Final Fantasy XIII: Second Opinions

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The IGN editors weigh in on the fastest-selling game in the RPG series' history.

By IGN Staff

It comes as no surprise that many of the IGN editors have given Square Enix's latest role-playing game a spin. Final Fantasy XIII is the latest in a long line of well-loved titles and many RPG fans have been eager to see how the series has settled in on current-gen consoles (as most of us skipped Final Fantasy XI on the 360).

Final Fantasy XIII follows an incredibly strong soldier known as Lightning. Players follow her and a group of companions as they fight against a seemingly cruel fate, which forces them out of their once comfortable existence. The game is filled with some fantastic conflicts, astounding cutscenes and stirring music. It's also the most eye-catching Final Fantasy to date.

I greatly enjoyed my time with Final Fantasy XIII and appreciated the changes Square Enix made to the formula, though it's very clear that the game's departure from traditional mechanics has upset many long-time enthusiasts. Is this game just too linear for its own good? Can the battle system keep your attention for 40 hours or more? These are the sorts of questions that are on the collective consciousness of the Final Fantasy masses.

Read the official IGN review of Final Fantasy XIII for all the details, and for my personal opinion about the game. But today, we're here to find out how the other editors reacted to the game. Is this the best JRPG we've seen in a long while, or is it a serious letdown? Let's find out.

- Ryan Clements

Charles Onyett: Most fans know what sets apart Final Fantasy XIII from the rest of the franchise at this point. Towns are gone. There are no magic points. All shopping and upgrading is done from save points. You only control the party leader in a fight. You lose the town-overworld-dungeon crawl-rest-and-repeat dynamic, and you're instead funneled through what amounts to one continuous linear dungeon. If you're not willing to accept those changes, then you're not going to like the game, plain and simple.

As a Final Fantasy fan, I was nervous upon learning this information. But then again, I was curious to see what change would do to the experience. I'm in chapter 10 at this point, and so far Final Fantasy XIII feels like the exact opposite of something like Demon's Souls. It's forgiving, there are save points everywhere, grinding is largely negated, you auto-heal after a fight, groups of enemies are spaced out to ensure you're powerful enough for the challenges later on, and you can simply retry a battle should you get killed. The changes place more of an emphasis on your performance in battle than your ability to plow through hours and hours of pointless grinding so you can swat aside enemies with a few commands.

The challenge of the game comes down to how effectively you can change paradigms during a fight, rather than how you set up individual commands round after round. The auto-battle option here is usually pretty smart about what to queue up, letting you closely observe enemy behavior and trigger paradigm switches whenever necessary. Initially it felt shallow and limited, but the more abilities my characters learn, the more interesting it gets.

It probably helps that if I get sick of a fight against some of the damage sponge enemies built into the game (armadillos, large robots, etc.) I can just skip them. I've found the more entertaining fights are the ones where enemies often shift attack patterns, requiring me to be quick with paradigm shifts, rather than those that are built to seemingly waste my time against enemies with preposterously high health reserves.

What's missing in terms of exploration is made up for to a degree with a focus on story. I'm never lost as to what my current progress is, and I don't forget what's going on in the tale thanks to helpful reminders and an extensive information database. Unfortunately the story is an outlandish fantasy tale that makes little sense. At some times the l'Cie / Cocoon relationship seems to be trying to comment on the tenuous and mutable nature of racial relations, but the rules of l'Cie creation and existence are so vague it's tough to get a handle on what the actual message is.

The more I play, the more I really do miss the exploration of games past. Hopefully I get some of what I'm looking for in chapter 11, where things apparently open up. Regardless, it's an incredibly pretty game.

Daemon Hatfield: I'm only a few hours into Final Fantasy XIII so I can only provide first impressions, but those impressions are very positive. The game is absolutely gorgeous and sports some of the best character animation I've seen. So far the battle system is pretty mindless, but I just sink into my couch, tap the A button, and watch the pretty pictures go by. Of course, we'll have to see how it holds my interest 10/20/40 hours in. Also, the battle music is awesome. It's some of the catchiest Japanese videogame music I've heard in a while.

Kristine Steimer I've never completed a Final Fantasy game before, so I'm not sure what got me interested in XIII. Actually, that's a lie -- it was just the graphics. I saw the trailer, went "Oooh, pretty!" and bought the game day one.

When I started I had no idea what the story was or why people were freaking out about it being so linear. Now, I'm nowhere near done (only on Chapter 5) but I've realized why people don't like being lead by the nose for the first 10 chapters -- it's boring. The maps are so straightforward that it's easy to tell where to find treasure chests and it feels like a mix of: battle, cut scene, run forward, battle, cut scene, rinse, repeat. I know that's how most games work, but it's more obvious in FFXIII than in other titles. I wish I could pick who I was playing and who was in my party. Some of the characters (I'm looking at you, Hope) are annoying me, and I wish I didn't have to play with them. I know that I'll be able to later in the game, but I'm impatient and want freedom NOW.

I'm not sure how I feel about the battle system yet – on one hand the paradigm shifts keep it engaging, but on the other hand it's still a bit dull. I mean, it's turn-based, so there's only so much you can do at any given time. Maybe my problem is that the game makes it too easy for you. If you lose a battle, you can just retry it with no penalty. If you don't get any stars in battle it's not that big of a deal either.

All that being said, I'm still enjoying myself and I look forward to completing it. The story and the visuals are keeping me interested and hopefully when I get to pick my party and ride Chocobos I'll have an even better time.